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ON THE

LETTER

ADDRESS D TO

TWO GREAT MEN,

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[PRICE ONE SHILLING.]

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address’d to

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TWO GREAT MEN.

In a LETTERto the

Author or that Piece.

Vis confili expers mole ruit fua :

Vim temper at am di quoque provehunt
In majus : idem odere vires
Omne nefas animo moventes.

Hoii

The Third Edition, Cor reded.

L O N D 0

.Printed for R. and J- Dodslsy,

n6o

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REMARK S, &c..

S I R,

I Shall not enquire who is the Author
of the Piece on which I am going to
remark. Your Opinions, and your
Arguments are all that I fhall confider.
Whether you are, or ever have been J
penlioned and employed, whether you
are a private Man, or a Perfon diftin-
guifhed in Rank and Fortune, you are
to me and to the Publick on this occa-
fion, only the Author of the Letter to
Two Great Men ; and you will give me
leave to addrefs you in that and in no
other Light. It is indeed a Light, in
which you cannot be viewed to your
difadvantage ; your Letter is animated with
the Spirit of true Patriotifm ; it difcovers
political and hiftorical Knowledge y and
it is written throughout with tire and
Energy.

But, Sir, that animation of Language
and Sentiment, which is allowed to the
Orator in Political Conflicts in Pulvere
et in Sole, has no place in afober Dilcuffion.
I write not to the Ear or to the Paffions ;

A 7 1 aim

X Vid. p. z. of the Letter.

[ 6 ]

I aim at no Sedudlion of Judgment j and
I a!K tor no approbation but what a calm
Renedtion and unprejudiced Reafcn may
abord me. My End is, rather to exa¬
mine the juftnefs of your Plan, than to
pn force any Plan of my own ; and I dial!
not affeft the Flow, nor the Pomp, nor
the high colouring of Parliamentary De~
plantation. If I can deliver a plain Ar¬
gument in plain Language, it is ail I aim
at : for what I am doing I fhall make no
Apology. That freedom with which you
warn the Miniftry againft falling into Mi-
Eakes in the enfuing Treaty, will juftify
me to you, and to the World, if I ibould
attempt to point out fome of thofe Mif-

takes, into which i imagine you are vour-
felf fallen. '

i i

.t ou cannot he ignorant in what man¬
ner Succefs operates upon tne jMinds of
Men^j with what a blind and haughty
Confidence it infpires them ; and in the
infolent Elation of Vidtory, how little
they attend to Reafon, or Juftice, and
often to their own molt important Inte-
rclls. i eople oi ad io«ations miagme,
that when they are worded, Succefs rnves
their Enemy very little Right to preferibe
ibycic i Ci ms ^ and conceive when they

are

[ 7]

•* t

are themfelves fuccefsful, that there are
no Bounds to their own Pretenfions. If fuch
a Difpofition fhould happen at this time
to prevail amongft us, it may be attend¬
ed with very pernicious Confequences.

It may raife fuch extravagant Expecta¬
tions, or excite fuch wrong-placed De¬
fires, as will render a Negotiation for
Peace a Work of infinite Difficulty. A
virtuous and able Miniftry may in feme
fort find their Virtue and Ability brougot
to aCt againfi: themfelves; they may find
that their Victories and Succeffes have
excited fo much Arrogance in thofe who
had no Share in acquiring them, as to ce-
ftroy all their Effects ; they may nnd theif
Virtue and Moderation overruled by .the
Madnefs of the People, and be thus disa¬
bled from availing themfelves of a fuccefs¬
ful War, for the Attainment of an advan¬
tageous Peace.

- /

I am afraid, Sir, that your Letter
tends to increafe and to inflame tins
Difpofition : you are not to be blamed
for delivering your Sentiments openly ;
the Liberty of an Engliffiman, and your
own Abilities, give you a right to do fo.
What I blarneys your exceffive Attach¬
ment to certain OhjeCls; lo excefiive that if

A 4 they

*

I

they fhouldnot be infilled upon by the ML
niftry, with a Warmth equal to your
Pwn you hefitatenot to declare to the
People that we /hall have a treacherous
find delujive Peace . This, Sir, is furelv
a moll unjulhfkble Method of proceed¬
ing; it is to fow the Seeds of a general
Difcpntent in favour of your particular
Opinions; Opinions, which if they are
pot ill founded, are at lead very pro¬
blematical : I cannot help obferving, that
your Refentment againft the Perfidy of
the Enemy, has made you fee m much
more intent upon affronting France , than

providing deliberately for the Interefls of

Britain ♦

You fet forth with great Strength of Fad
^nd Reafon, the treachery of France, and
herfrequent Violations of the molt folemn
Treaties. You infill; particularly on the
Cafe of Dunkirk : and I admit that you
could not have chofen a more proper In-
llance. But I am forry to fee that you are
even here, guided more by old Preju¬
dices than by the true Nature of Things ;
and that you have propofed fuch a Man-
,icr of ading, that whillt we are in reality

* Vi(!. p. 29. of the Letter.

only

f 9 3

only demanding our honeft and un¬
questionable Rights, we fhall have all the
Appearance of ading with the molt wan¬
ton Inlolence, with the moll hateful ()•>
preffion. 1

^ on advife the Two Great Men,
that, “ |J before, they enter upon any new
Treaty, or lifien to any plaufble Propo-
“ whatever, they ought to infiji that
jujtice may. be done with regard to for¬
mer Treaties, /hew France the folemn
“ Engagements fie entered into at Utrecht
“ t0 demolifi Dunkirk. “ Demand," fay
you, “ immediate JuJiice on that Article,
,c as a preliminary Proof of her Sincerity
“ ™ the enfuing Negotiation. Tell them
with the Firmnejs of wife Conquerors,

“ that the Demolition e/Dunkirk is what
“ you are entitled to by Treaties made
“ hong ago and violated, and that it fiall
(( not. be fo much as mentioned in the en¬
fuing Negotiation, but complied with be¬
fore that Negotiation fhall commence

This is a Sort of Language hitherto, I
believe, unheard in Pur ope ; but why you
confine thefe extraordinary Demands to
Dunkirk I cannot imagine. Why do you

H Vid. p. 24, 25.

not

[ 10.1

not infift that France fhould in the fame
previous manner renounce all Right to the
difputed Parts of America? You will I hope
allow, thattheFmzcfi Encroachments there,
are as much againft theFaith of I reaties, as
the Reftoration of Dunkirk ; and that we
have full as good a right to expect every
Reparation of Intereft and Honour with
regard to the one, as to the other, hut
if all Points wherein the Violation of
Treaties is charged, ought not, (accord¬
ing to your Doiftrine,) to be fo much as
mentioned in the enfuing Negotiation^
but ought to be fettled before that Ne¬
gotiation {hall commence ; the Bufinefs
of the Congrefs will be fo very fnort,
and fo very eafy, as to require no won^
derful Share of that Rnowleogv-, that
Adroitnefs, and all that Combination
of Talents, and Virtues, which you
demand in a Plenipotentiary ; but which
vou are a! mo ft in Delpair of finding-
among our Nobility. An Dnglijh Ple¬
nipotentiary, to Ipeak and to act to the
Letter of the Inftruftions which you
mve him, need only aiTume a debihve
and dictatorial Tone ; to rail abundant¬
ly at thofe employed by the Enemy^ to
treat with him ; to remind them of their

amazing Perfidy, * to tell them that he owes
* them

* P. 24.

VAYA'N.'A

[ 11 ]

them aDifgrace f; to tell them that he can
have no Dealings with fuch a People ; * and
thus to go through the little that is left
to be done with as great Airs of Arro¬
gance and Superiority as he can poffibly
affume. Phefe are Accompliffiments in¬
deed not difficult to be found, and which
we need not defpair to meet with at Ar¬
thur s, or on the Turf. +

4 ' * - * * I . Z ' y' ! ' .J

I do not, Sir, mean to infinuate, that
the Demolition of Dunkirk is not an Qb-
jedt worthy of our regard. It is indeed
probably not of quite fo much Import¬
ance, as you think it, and as formerly it
w^s tnought, whdft in the Continental
V/ars of King William , and Queen Anne ,
we negleded our Naval Strength, and
the due Protection of our Trade" How¬
ever, as it is hill an Objedf, there is no
oubt but in the enfuing Negotiation our
Miniitry will attend with proper Care to
have it demolished, according to the
Tenor of former Treaties. This, Sir, we
may luppole with home Afturance, will be
done. But that this be done before we
condefcend to treat, that it is to be a Pre¬
liminary to the Preliminaries of Peace, is
an Idea altogether extravagant, and as little
t P. 25. * P. id.. J p. 6.

juftified

>\i.’ •• i ' .1 • : •; . * i /';• , . • . . • •• , ' . ,,

•"•Ut * n'tfi . • •, . . ■ .

_

C 12 1

juftified by Precedent as by Reafon. That
tbofe very Matters for which War was
declared fhould not be lb much as men¬
tioned in the Negotiation for Peace, is a
Principle abfolutely your own, and to which
all the Writers on Politicks have to this
Day been entirely Strangers. You feem
indeed aware of this, and therefore af-
fert that fuch Demands as you propofc
-j~ “ cannot be looked upon as the Info-
“ lence of a Conqueror, but as the wife
“ Forefight of a People, whom dear-
“ bought Experience hath taught the
“ proper Way of doing itfelf Juftice. For
you obferve fome few Lines before, that
we ought -*% § to take every Method in
“ our Power to fecure the Obfervance of
“ thofe Conceffions they may make; and
“ to infill upon their giving us fuch Proofs
u of their Sincerity before any Negotiation
“ is entered upon, as may give us fome
“ Jiffuranccy that they mean to be more
“ faithful to their future Engagements F
The way then in which you propole we
fhould do ourlelves Juftice, is to infill that
Dunkirk be demolifhed before we liften
to any Propcfal of Peace, becaule you ima¬
gine that a Compliance with this De¬
mand by France will be a Proof of their

f Vid. p. 9. of the Letter, § Ibid.

Sincerity,

[ *3 ]

Sincerity, and a Security for their adher¬
ing to the Treaty.

I fhould, Sir, moft willingly concur
with you, in recommending any Method
which might fecure their Adherence to
fuchConceffionsas they fhallmake; which
might draw from them any real Proof of
their Sincerity , or which would give us
fome AJJurance that they mean to be more
faithful to their future Engagements : but
I have confidered your Demand in every
Light which I was capable of putting it;
and after all lam utterly unable to difcover,
if France fhould fubmit to the humiliat¬
ing Step you propofe, what additional
Security this will, or can give us, that
fhe will adhere to her Engagements
whenever fhe fhall find it her Interefl
to break them. This Step may indeed be
a mortifying Confeffion of her prefent
Weaknefs, but can be no Security for
her future Faith.

So far from having any fuch Ope¬
ration, there is all Reafon to fuppofe
that it would produce the contrary Ef¬
fect. A Nation which through the
Necefiity of its Affairs, fubmits to Terms
Jmpofed for no other purpofe than to

infult

infult her, feeks the firft Opportune
fcy to wipe off the Stain. She will
not look upon fuch Engagements as a
Treaty, but as an Oppreffion ; and
flie will find a fort of Excufe for
the Infidelity of her Condudf, in
the Infolence of ours. Nations, like
Men, refent an Infult more than an
Injury.

Unreafonable as this Demand may
be, you however feem fond of it; for
you again afk, “ Can you have any
“ Dealings with a Power, who, if he
<c refufes this, at the very Time that
« he is treating, affords you a ma-
“ nifeft Proof that his Word is not
“ to be relied upon, and that you can-
“ not truft to the Execution of any
“ Promifes ever fo folemnly made ?”
Why not ? You may, Sir, undoubted¬
ly have Dealings with fuch a Power,
notwith (landing fuch a Refufal; becaufc
they only do what is extremely natu¬
ral, and extremely reafonable, .in refu-
fing to deftroy a Place which is of ufe
to them in War, before their Enemy has
condefcended to treat for Peace. You

Vid. p. 25. of the Letter,

do'

f *5 ]

do not_ fure imagine, that any Nation
is fo ignorant and fottilh as not to
know, that the Weakening its Hands
before a Negotiation for Peace, is not
the way to fecure it g00d Terms in
t at egotiation ; and that they may
weil refufe to comply with this igno¬
minious and unfafe Condition, without
mamfefting any Intention of fwerving
rom their future Engagements. If it
could be fuppofed for a Moment that
our Adminiftration would adopt your
Syftem, might not France in her turn afk,
and very reafonably too. What Security
we propofe to give, if fhe fhould fubmit
to tnis extraordinary previous Prelimi-
nary, that we fhall even then confent
on . our Side to an equitable Peace ? Or
that this firft unreafonable Demand may
not be followed by others ftill more un¬
reasonable, whilft we have any thing to
aik, or fhe any thing to give ? To °an-
iwei P 'viEhs would found flrangelyj
to anfvver otherwife with Confiftency
is impoffiole ; and it mull; be allowed,
t at fo extraordinary a Demand previ¬
ous to a Treaty, would be a very bad
Omen of our- Moderation in the Treaty
U.eif, A Compliance with it would indeed

mar-

r

mortify the Enemy, but it would add
nothing to our real Strength ; whilft it
would alarm every Nation near us, and
aflifl France in exciting that Jealouly
of the Britijh Naval Power, which lhe
has for a long Time been labouring
with great Induftry, and fome Succefs,
to infufe into all the Nations of Europe ,
and particularly into the Maritime States.
You have very well obierved upon the
Terror which was excited by the Power
of Lewis XIV. and upon the gene¬
ral Confederacy againft him, which was
the Confequence of this Power : but you.
have forgot to add, that the infolent
ufe he made of his Greatnefs, alarm¬
ed as much, and provoked much more,
than that enormous Power itfelf : it
was indeed the true Caufe of his Fall.
Other Nations alfo may be thought too
powerful ; and they will be thought fo,
whenever they exercife their Power with
Haughtinefs. Without having recourfe to
+ a Montcfquieu, perhaps, Sir, it may be
found that the Roman , the Spanijb , and

t P. 38. of the Letter. Perhaps it might on Inquiry
be worthy of another Montefquieu to affign the
Caufes of the Rife and Fall of the French Monar¬
chy, &c.

ths

- A/.

Y:

C *7 J

%

the French Grandeur have owed their De~
clenfion to the fame Caule ; they had at¬
tained a greater Power than they had Wif-
dom fufEcient to diredt ; for the fake of
gratifying the paffion of the Day, they
loft fight of their lafting Intereft .

I

The utmoft rational Aim of our Am¬
bition, is to poffefs a juft Weight, and
Conftderation in Europe ; and that the
Power of the Nation ihould be rather
refpedtable than terrible. To effect this,
it muft not be employed invidioully ; it
muft operate difcretely and quietly ; then
it will be happily felt in its Effects, while
it is little feen in violent Exertions. The
Genius and Difpolition of Nations, as well
as Men, is beft difcerned by the ufe they
make of Power. And therefore my great
Objection to this Part of your Plan, does
not arife from the Nature of the thing
which you delire ; my Objection is to the
Time and Manner in which you infift on

j

having it done; which is, as I apprehend,
to ourfelvesof no kind of ufe, and therefore
arrogant and unreafonable to the Enemy.

After the Propofal concerning Dun¬
kirk , you lay before the Two Great Men
the other Parts of your Plan. And here

B vou

a*

you recommend it to them to difplay their
Moderation, by giving up Guadaloute , Sene¬
gal, and Goree; and their Wifdom, by
keeping the Poffeffion of every Part of
Canada. Po keep Canada is the Point
you have principally at heart ; *“ this is
ti e oint, fay you invariably to be ad-
hered to, “ this is to be thejne qua non
of the Peace,” and unlefs it is, we /hall
have a treacherous and delufive Peace.”

<C

SC

SC

Before I examine the juftnefs of thofe
i otives that make you fo ftrenuoufly at¬
tached to this Object, and fo indifferent to
every othei ; i fhall beg leave to remark
upon the Confequence you deduce from
the Suppofition of our giving up Canada.

tnat we fhall then have a treacherous
“ and delufive Peace.1 ”

* f

The Views which every State ou^ht
to have at the making of Peace, may
be reduced to two. ^

i ft. To attain thofe Objecfts for which
fhe went to War. And,

/ i

2diy. To receive fome reafonable

* Vid. P. 34. x '

t

Indem-

♦

t *9 ]

i / * ■ • . ,

Indemnification for the Charges (he has
incurred, in carrying it on. If the is fuccefs-
ful fhe is juflified in making a Demand
of this Naim e ; but without openly avow¬
ing fome 1 Views of Ambition , no Nation
can poffibly claim more.

This admitted, Sir, I a fk upon the
iirlt Head; Whether the Poffeffion of
Canada., properly fo called , was ever one
Oi thole Objects for which we beo-an tho
War ? Was it ever mentioned a*s fuch
in any of our Memorials or Declara¬
tions, or in any National or Publick Adt
whatfofcver ? The true Caufe of the War,
our real and indilputable Right, is well

known. Om Claims were large enough for

Po fie 111 on and for Security too. And will
you fay. Sir, that if, in the beginning
of thefe Troubles, France influenced by
a Dread of the Exertion of the Britijh

Power, had acknowledged thefe Claims,

had given up Nova Scotia, or Acadia,

i 'k]y 4- of the Letter. As his Majefty entered into
the War not from views of Ambition.

, ?* 33* t*le Letter. This Plan is perfectly acrree-
able : to that Moderation expreffed by his Majeffy in

Pjmlltn IbiJ' The b°Mon of Canada is no vUiv

with

t 20 ]

with its ancient and true Boundaries,
had demolifhed their Fort in the Pro¬
vince of New York , had removed them-
felves from the Ohio and renounced all
claim to that Territory, and that on
thofe Conceffions the Miniftry had then
ceafed '.from Hoftilities, without making
any further Claims, will you fay that we
fhould have had a treacherous and
delufive Peace ? You will hardly ven¬
ture to alTert that we fhould. And
is a Peace made after France has felt
the Force of Britain , and fubmitted to
that Force, to be more treacherous and
delufive than if fhe had made it from
an Apprehenfion only of the Conle-
quences ? Is a Peace to be treacherous
and delufive, if we do not get on that
Peace, what we never claimed as our
Right before the War? Is a Peace treache¬
rous and delufive that puts us in poffef-
fion of a Territory larger than feveral
flourifliing Monarchies ? Is a Peace de¬
lufive and treacherous only becaufe fome-
thing is left to the Enemy ?

But you do not affert that we have
any original Right to Canada ; nor do
you fay that the Conceflion of thofe

Boundaries

[ 21 ]

Boundaries which we have claimed do
not give us a vaft Territory and an advan¬
tageous Barrier. You go upon another,
which is indeed the only Principle you
make ufe of, but which you are of
opinion is fo ftrong * “ as to filence the
“ French Plenipotentiaries, and to con-
“ vince all Europe of the juftice of your
“ demand.”

“ Afk the French what Security they
“ can give you if we reftore Canada ,
“ however retrained in its Boundaries,
cc that they will not again begin to ex-
“ tend them at our Expence.”

The French Plenipotentiaries, Sir, muft
be very extraordinary Advocates to be fi-
lenced, and Europe as extraordinary a
Judge to be convinced by fuch an Argu¬
ment. France, Sir, might anfwer, that Ihe
can give no fuch Security. No Nation
whilft independent can give it. And
therefore no fuch Security fhould be
delired. To detire the Enemies whole
Country upon no othe Principle but
that otherwile you cannot fecure your

* P. 3. of the Letter.

B 3 own,

t

own, is turning the Idea of mere de¬
fence into the mold dangerous of all
1 1 maples. It is leaving no Medium be¬
tween Safety and Con qu eft. ft is tQ

iuppofe yourfelf never Safe, whilft your
Neighbour enjoys any Security. Indeed
luch a Demand, after the Queftions dif-
puted in the War have been adjufted,
is an Avowal of Inch an unreafonable Am¬
bition, that I truft you will never be fe-

p ; v -a ar^ Man or

Englijh Minifter . For it is a Demand

that extends infinitely in - its Confe-
quence?, extends (for any thing I can fee
to the contrary), to the utter Deftruc-
tion of Mankind. For whilft we have
prance, or any other Nation on our Bor¬
ders either in Europe or in America, we
mult in the nature of things have fre-
quern Difputes and Wars 'with them •
and we mu ft fuppofe, at leaft, as often
_as we are fuccefsful, that the Enemy is
m rauit j that is, we muft fuppofe the
Enemy had provoked us to take Arms
by the Violation of fome Treaty, or
by the Invafion of fome Right. The
Bufinefs of a Peace is to adjuft and to de¬
termine thefe Difputes ; but after the
Enemy has agreed to our original De¬
mands,

[ 23 J

mands, if we go on to demand Security for
the Prefervation of Peace- what lefs do
we demand, than that they fhould yield
themfelves bound Hand and Foot up
to our Mercy ? Let our Borders be ever
fo extended, as long as we have any
Nation near us, we mud have the fame
Difputes, the lame Wars, and we muft
demand, upon your Principle, the fame
Security at the Conclufion of a Peace, or
more properly fpeaking, we mu ft make
fuch Demands, as will render it abfolutely
impotiible to conclude any Peace at all.

There was a Nation indeed, which I
am fure we refernble more in Courage,
than in Ambition and Injuftice, which
frequently ufed to demand fuch a Cau¬
tion : and fuch a Caution they actually
did require from the Carthaginians , when
they intended it as a Preliminary to
the utter Deftruction of that People, and to
the mod notorious Breach of Faith, upon
their own fide. Their Pretence was
exadly yours; that the Enemy was a Nation
perfidious to a Proverb ; a People whom
no Treaty could bind. They ufed the
Pumca in the fame manner that you do
the Galhca Fides. I need not inform
you, Sir, what followed : it was indeed

B 4 impof-

[ H 3

impoffible that fuch Principles and
Pretenfions could end in any thing but
tne total Deftrudtion of the Vanquilhed,

I do not fee why the Arguments you
employ concerning a Security for their
peaceable Behaviour in Canada, would

not be equally cogent for requiring the
fame Security in Europe. They are our
Neighbours, and dangerous ones, here,
as well as there. The Low Countries ,
Lorain, Alface , fhew us, that the French
Monarchy has been, at lead, as intent

upon extending its Dominion in Europe ,
as it can be in America. We know that
they have tried all the Methods of War,
of Treaty, and of Marriages, to enlarge
their dangerous Empire. But dill, dread¬
ed as they are in Europe , (and much
more to be dreaded than ever they
were in America ) if we could be fo hap¬
py to fee, what I fear we never lhall fee,
a Confederacy to reclaim their Ufur-
pations, what would we fay to the In-
folence of thofe who, on your Principle,
fhould demand all France as a Security
that they fhould not make the like Ufur-
pations for the future.

But, Sir, our real Dependence for keep¬
ing

iV'

[ 25 ]

mg France, or any other Nation, true t©
her Engagements, mud not be in de¬
manding Securities, which no Nation
whilft independent can give, but on our
own Strength and our own Vigilance,

To fay the Truth, we owe our Loffes
in America as much to our own Supine-
nefs as to the French Perfidy. Our Mi-
nifters have heretofore a<£ted in regard to
America , as if they expe<fted from a
Magic in the Contract, that it would
perform itfelf. They took no Steps to
enforce it. But from the Wifdom and
Vigour of our prefent Adminiftration, I
fhould expert another Conduct. As foon
as France is happily reduced to cede us
fuch Boundaries as may be thought pro¬
per to demand, the fapfie Spirit that has
conducted the War, will maintain the
Terms of the Peace'. Inffead of leaving
France at liberty to build Forts at her
Difcretion, Englijh Forts will be raifcd
at fuch PalTes, as may at once make us re-
fpeftable to the French, and to the Indian
Nations. God forbid that we fhould
depend on the Sincerity of our Enemy.
Every wife Nation will rely on its own
Watchfulnefs, and on its own Strength,

to

to maintain the Terms they oblige their
Enemy to give them j and' whoever ex-
peds Security from any other Depen¬
dence, will find himfelf the Dupe.

To fupply any Defedt in your Ar<m-
ment for this favourite Meafure, of de¬
taining Canada , you call in the Aid of
our American Colonies ; and tell us,
“ ^gb Care Jhould be taken to keep all
" we Croe claimed , fomething more
" be done, or our American Colonies
“ ‘anil tell you, you have done nothin <r ”
On what Authority this is fo pofitively
ahci ted to be the Language of our Ameri¬
can Colonies, you have not told us. 1 hope
and beheve that you have been mifinform-
ed. But if our American Colonies fhould
be foabfurd and ungrateful as to tell us, af¬
ter all theBlood and Treafure expended in
their Caufe, that we do nothing, if we
do not make Conquefts for them, they
muff be taught a Leffon of greater Mo¬
deration. If with a Superiority of at leaft
ten to one, witn a vaf : and advantageous
Barrier, with the proper Precautions to
ftrengthen it, under the Protection of a
great Naval Power, they cannot think
themfelves fecure, they mult blame their

own

/

l 27 ]

own Cowardice or Ignorance, and not the
Meafures of their Mother Country ; who
is bound to provide for their Happinefs and
Security, but not for their vain Ambi¬
tion, or their groundlefs Fears.

The Idea of fecuring yourfelf, only by
having no other Nation near you, is, I
admit, an Idea of American Extradlion.
It is the genuine Policy of Savages ; and
it is owing to this Policy, that England
and France are able at this Day to difpute
the Sovereignty of Defcrts in America.

As we do not pretend to claim Canada
upon an original Right, lo neither is it ne-
ceffary to our fecutity. For, that we can
very rationally fecure ourfelves in North
America without the PolTeffion of Canada ,
will, lapprehend, require very few Argu¬
ments to demonftrate. I have already obferv-
ed upon the vail Superiority of Men which
we have there; fuch Superiority, that I am
always aftoniihed when I think on the
unaccountable Condudt which has made
Fr ancezn Enemy to be apprehended on that
Continent. We are in North America not
oniy ^ a greater Naval, but a far greater
Continental Power. Our Superiority in

Poipt

[ 2S ]

Point of Situation is no lefs vifib'ie. If
added to thele Advantages, we acquire
on a Peace all thofe important Ports
and Communications, by which alone
Canada became in any Degree dangerous
to us, I cannot fee why Canada, weakened,
rtripped, confined, and I may fay bound
down, will not be infinitely in more Dan¬
ger, in cafe of any Rupture between the
two Nations, from our Colonies, than ours
can be from theirs.

I cannot help obferving, that among
ad your Ideas of Security, and anxious
as you are for the Security of North
America in particular, you drew little re¬
gard to that of the Weft Indies. Our Ca-
nbbee Iflands muft ever be infinitely in
greater Danger from Guadaloupe , than our
North American Colonies can be from
Canada circumfcribed as it ought, and as it
is prefumed, it will be. The French have a
real Superiority in the Weft Indies, and they
have at times made it to be feverely felt.

. If, as it has been fhewn, we may beyond
any rational Fear fecure ourfelves with¬
out the intire Pofiefiion of Canada, we
•can defire it in Preference to our other

Con-

V

r

[ 29 ]

Conquefts only on Account of Its fuperior
Value. Though you have not at all infilled
on this, yet left this may be thought one of
your Motives to that great Preference, and
it is fure, the beft Motive you could have
had, we will conftder the Point fomewhat
at large, and this will bring us to the fe-
cond of thofe leading Ideas, that ought
to guide a Nation in a Treaty of Peace ;
that is, to acquire a proper Indemnification
for the Expenccs of the War. You are
not one of the Number of thofe who
think we ought to give up nothing in a
Peace. You do not claim Canada on a
Principle of Right. We have examined
it on the Principle of Security. The only
Queftion that now remains to be difputed
between us, is, whether Canada be a better
Indemnification for the Expences of the
War, than all our other Conquefts put
together; for you give up all the reft with
great Eafe, and infill on this alone.

Before we enter into a Companion be¬
tween the Value of our Acquifitions in
the Weft Indies and thofe in Canada , I
mull beg leave to take fome notice of
your Reafon, your only Reafon, foft

f 3° ]

giving up the Ifland of Guadeloupe *
‘‘ that we have already fo many Sugar
ilands of our own.” If any Argument
could poflibly be drawn from our having
Abundance of Territory, furely it holds
much more ftrongly with regard to North
America , where one of our Provinces
alone, has more Land than ours, and all
the French Sugar Iflands put together If
we have in the Weft Indies Land enough
for Sugar, furely we have Land enough
in North America for the far lefs valu¬
able Commodities, which are produced on
that vaft Continent. From what Motives
you are pieafed to think the keeping a
great Sugar Ifland an Acquifition of little
Confequence, I am unable to compre¬
hend. You know furely that in one of
our Iflands, the greateft of them, we
labour under a fort of Monopoly, and
under other Difadvantages, hard, if not

^• 33; of flie Letter. The PoiTeffion cf Guadaloupe ,
an additional Sugar Ifland, when we have fo many of
our own, ought not to be infilled upon fo flrenuoufly as
to make it a necefTary Condition of the Peace; and
though Senegal and Oorce are of real Importance in
the Slave and Gum Trades, our own African Settle¬
ments have hitherto fupplied us with Slaves fufKcienf
for our American Purpofes,

[ 3* ]

impoffihle to be remedied. You know
that another Ifland, I mean Barbados,
formerly one of our heft, is at prefent
much exhauftedj fo that the Produce,
and the Profit made on that Produce^
diminifhes daily ; and that the reft, except
perhaps vlntiguci , are quite inconiider-
able ; fo inconfiderable, that the Iflands,
which as dependents on Guadaloupe are
fcarce mentioned, are much more valua¬
ble. It was no fooner found that the King
of Denmark was intent on fettling the
Ifland of Santa Cruz , than fome confi-
derable Planters immediately removed
thither, and it is now almoft wholly
fettled by the Englijb. Many have actu¬
ally Interefts in Martinico ; and Guade¬
loupe was fcarce taken, when our Planters
flocked thither, and immediately made
conditional § Purchafes, fenfible of the

Superiority of this Ifland and the Defects
of our o wn ,

In Confequence of thofe Wants, and

§ 1 % conditional, becaufe the Capitulation has
rendered it impofiible to make an abfolute Purchafe*

?ut , th7, have alrfaciy made Contrails to purchafe’

1. the H.and remains to us, and have 'taken poffef-
lion ol r tarnations by virtue of I'uch Contrails-

Difadvantages, our Sugar Iflands prodded
little more than what ferves the home
Confumption ; and that too at a very ad¬
vanced Price. From the foreign Market
we have before this War befen almoft
wholly excluded. France fupplied all the
Markets of Europe , and fupplied them
in a great meafure from the Produce of
this verylfland, which you efteem fo light¬
ly. When we confider Things in a Com¬
mercial Light, it is the foreign Market
which ought certainly to have the greateft
Influence. Thofe who fupply the home
Confumption purvey to our Luxury :
thofe who fupply the foreign Market
adminifter to our Wealth and to our
Power.

To fhew you, Sir, how much the
Sugar Trade might contribute to the
Wealth and Power of any Nation, by
what it formerly did contribute to ours,
and what for a long Time paft it has
contributed to that of France , I will lay
before you fome Faffs ; Faffs, Sir, which
are of a Nature infinitely more con¬
vincing than the molt lively Sallies of
Eloquence. About the time of the Treaty
of Utrecht we fupplied the greateft part

of

['33 1

of the Sugar Confumption throughout Eu*
rope. France, far from contending with us
ih the foreign Market, took from us a great
part of what (he ufed at home. From
the year 1715 to 1719 we exported one
Year with another 185S0 Hogflheads of
Sugar. From 1719 to 1722 we fell to
lefs than half; for we lent abroad but 9064
communibus Annis. We continued regularly
on the decreafe to 1739, in which Year our
Sugar Expert had fallen to 4078 Hog-
fheads. Since that time, it has fallen aimed:
to nothing. Now let us turn tire other
fide, and view the Sugar Trade of France
fince the fame Period, the Treaty of U-
trecht . At that time the French exported no
Sugars. But mark, Sir, the Revolution. In
1740, when the Britijh Trade in that Ar¬
ticle was in a manner annihilated; France ,
after ferving her Home Confumption at
a very eafy Rate, exported no lefs than
80,000 Hogfheads of Sugar, which, with
the Gains of the Commifiion, &c. was re¬
puted to be worth to France more than a
Million Sterling, to employ 40,000 Ton
Of Shipping, and 4000 Seamen, folely in
bringing it from the Weft Indies to Europe .
Thefe, Sir, are Fads that proclaim loudly
the Advantage of thofe Iflands to France
whilft they were in her PofTeffion; and

declare

i

f 34 ]

declare no lefs firongly the Advantages
which muft accrue to Britain, if (lie could
attain the Pofleffion of one of the very
heft of them, Padts thefe, that ought
not to be palled lightly, until you can
iiiew fomething like them, in favour of the
Plan you fo warmly embrace. I therefore
Sit, cannot help thinking that your Rea-
fons for rejecting Guadaloupe, on the Prin¬
ciple of our having Sugar Land enough ,
are not near lo ftrong, nor the Matter fb
well weighed, as the Importance of the
Queftion deferves.

But let us fee what the Value of this
Canada is, in companion of which you
rejedt all our other Acquifitions.

Unluckily for your Argument, you
yourfelf inform * us at your letting out,
that the French fet very little Value upon
this PofTeflion, and that they have even
deliberated, whether it fhould not be en¬
tirely abandoned.

If in the Hands of the French , who
have no other Northern Colony, from
whence to fupply their Wands with

Lumber,

* ' VS'' SP

. - v.~ ■ 5 . • ‘.‘r .... • -.o

'

f 35 ]

Lumber, Corn, and Provifion, Canada
was of (o very little Importance, what is
it like to prove in ours, who have already
fuch immenfeTra&s, and thofe too fo much

fituated for that Trade,
ana who can eafily lupply five times the
Confumption of ours, theirs, and all the
other Weft India Illands'put too-ether • ind
that too ac a much eafier Rato than ,hU can
poffibly have thefe Things from Canada ?

J ut i uo not m life upon this Argument,
though it is ftrong againft you, "bccaufe
I do not believe that France has fuch a
difregard for this their only confiderable
Polieffion in North America. It is a great
while fince they thought of giving it up ;
and they are long convinced that it is of
fome ufe to them, independent of their
Hopes of encroaching on our Poffeffions.
Aik thofe, Sir, who lately faw Canada , if
it had tne face of a Colony which the
Mother Country was wearv of holding ?

I believe, Sir, they will tell yOU that'the.
Cultivation of the Lands, the Number
and Neatnels of the Houfes, the warm
Condition of the Inhabitants, by no Means
feemed to imply that they were neo-ieCted
by France; but winced rather that
Colony was the Object of her very ten¬
der Concern.

C

n

• *~r

But

' But there are, independent of the Opi¬
nion or Deligns of France , many Reafons
why we Should not think Canadaio valuable
an Acquifition as our Conquer): in the Weft
Indies. Canada, Situated in a cold Cli¬
mate, produces no Commodity, except
Furs and Skins, which She can exchange
for the Commodities of Europe ; and con-
fequently She can have Small Returns to
make to the Englijh Merchant. We know
what trifling Returns we have, from fome
of our own very flourishing Colonies in
America. The whole Trade of Furs
and Skins, which Canada carried on with
France , fell Short, in its moft flourishing
State, of 140,000k a Year. The reft of their
Produce, with regard to the Market of
Europe, is as nothing. It is worthy of
obfervation, that a very great Part of
the Value of thofe Furs was returned
from France in the Article of Brandy,
without which, the Trade with the In¬
dians for their Beaver and Deer Skins
could not be carried on. But as an En¬
glijh Plantation, Canada muft fupply itfelf,
as all the other Englijh Plantations do,
with Rum ; elfe they will be obliged in-
tirely to relinquish the Fur and Peltry
Trade, which is the only valuable Trade

they have. But let it be confidered how

the

»

[ 37 ]

the People of Canada can come to the Weft
India Market from the bottom of the River
St. Laurence , with the grofs and cheap Ar¬
ticle of Lumber and Corn, on a footing with
our Colonies, many of which are not three
Weeks Sail from the Leeward Iflands.
They could neither trade with Europe , nor
withth tJVeji Indies , with any tolerable A d¬
vantage : not with the Weft Indies, becaufe
they muft be underfold in that Market ;
not with Europe, becaufe being fo under¬
fold they cannot have the Rum that is
neceffary for the Indian Trade, which
keeps up their Commerce with Europe.

Indeed whilft Canada is in the Hands
of France, the Skin Trade may be kept
up fo as to be an Objebt ; becaufe the
Return for thole Commodities, brings
back the Brandy with which they are
purchafed : and thus the Trade is kept
alive by a continual Circulation. The
bulkier Articles of Corn and Lumber,
may likewiie continue a Branch of their
Trade, becaufe it is their Intereft to
fupport by every Method the Vent of
thele Articles in their Weji India Iflands in
Preference to Foreigners. But Canada in
■our Hands can have no fuch Preference,

C 3 and

[ 3S ]

arm therefore from its Situation cannot
Jer °n an Equality in the Weft India
iviairLct ; from which Market alone it
that they, as a Eritijh Poffeffion, can
Gtiiye the Spirits, or thole Materials for
Spirits, without which the Fur and Peltry,
their only Trade, muft certainly perifh!
Thefe Principles appear to me fo well
giounded, that I tnink it no Prefumption
to prophefy, “ if that Place fhould ever
he ouis, the Fur Trade of Canada muft
tc inevitably come to little or nothing in
<c a few Years.

But let us extend our View a little
faithei 5 let us fuppofe that inftead of
aiming at the entire Poffeffion of North
America, we coniine ourfelves to thole
Limits which we have always claimed
tnere ; and that Canada is reftored to
Fiance, curtailed in fucn a manner as
to fecure the Ohio Country, and the Com¬
munication of the Lakes. It is well
known to tnofc who have any Knowledge
of American Affairs, that the Country to
me Southward of Lake Erie, and near
we Cfoio, is me great eft In da an Hunting
Country in North America . If this Ter-

remain with us on a Peace,
jt naturally draws to us all that Trade

which

\

[ 37 3

which depends upon the Hunting of
Deer and Beaver. If this Country fhould
be further (ecu red to us, by the Pof-
feffion of Niagara , which is a Pofr
of infinite Importance, and intirely com¬
mands the great Lakes of Erie and On¬
tario, I cannot fee how it is poflibie to
keep the far greater Part of the Commerce
ot North America out of our Hands.
The Indians muft every where be in¬
tercepted before they can arrive at the
French Colony, even fuppofing (what can
never be) that the French could entice
them thither by felling cheaper than our
Dealers.

Thus without aiming at the total Pof-
feffion of Canada, by eftabliftnng proper
Limits, and by fecuring them properly,
we may draw to ourlelves a great P'ar-t
of that Trade which muft give Canada
itfeh any Value, in the Eyes of a com¬
mercial Nation.

So that the Queftion, Sir, is not, whe¬
ther Canada extended to the Ocean bv
a Pofleifion of the River St. John , and
a great Part of Nova Scotia , encroaching
upon, and menacing New Fork and New
England , commanding exclufively all the

^ 4 Lakes

Lakes and Pavers, whether fuch a Coun-
try ought to be kept in Preference to
Guadeloupe, but whether Canada, ft ripped
of thefe Advantages, and confined to its
proper Limits, confined to the Northward
of thofe Lakes, and Rivers, be a better
Acquifition than our rich Conqueft in the
Weft Indies.

If we compare the Returns of Ca¬
nada, even whilft it fiourifhed moft by its
Encroachments upon us, with thofe of
Guadaloupe , we fhall find their Value in
no Degree of Competition. The Fur
Trade, whofe Value is before men¬
tioned, is its whole Trade to Europe .
But Guadaloupe, befides the great Quan¬
tities of Sugars, Cotton, Indigo, Coffee,
and Ginger, which it fends to Market,
carries on a Trade with the Caraccas and
other Parts of the Spantjh Main, which
is a Trade wholly in the Manufactures of
Europe, and the Returns for which, are
made almoft wholly in ready Money.
Without eftimatingthe Land, the Houfes,
the Works, and the Goods in the Iiland,
the SI aves, at the loweft Valuation, are
worth upwards of one Million two hun¬
dred and fifty thoufand Pounds fterling. It
is a known Fad that they make more

l 41 J

Sugar in Guadaloupe, than in any of our
Iflands, except ‘Jamaica. This Branch of
their Trade alone, befidesthe Employment
of fo much Shipping, and fo many Sea¬
men, will produce clear 300,000 1. per
Annum to our Merchants. For, as we
have fufficient from our own Iflands, to
fupply our Home Confumption, the whole
Sugar Produce of Guadaloupe will neceffa-
rily be exported : and will confequently
be fo much clear Money to Great
Britain. Sir, the whole Produce of
Canada, though it were all exported
from England, and exported compleatly
manufactured, would not amount to the
Value of that fingle Article unmanufac¬
tured: nor would it employ the one
twentieth Part of the Shipping, and the
Seamen. But this, though the largeft,
and the moft valuable, is not the only
Produce of Guadaloupe ; Coffee, which in
our Iflands is a very inconfiderable Objeft,

, is there a very great one. They raife
likewife great Quantities of Indigo and
Cotton, which fupply Materials for our
befl and moft valuable Manufaitures,
and which employ many more Hands
than the Increafe of the Hat Trade,
propofed by the keeping Canada , can do.
This Ifland is capable in pur Hands,

of

*- •

• ' <■ • ■ ’ -

[ 4* ]

of being improved to double its prefent

a ue , whereas -Canada in our Hands

would not probably yield half what it
did to France.

There is, Sir, one Argument I would
uie particularly to you, who are fofbong-
ly lenhble of the Inconveniences we are
liable to, from the Situation of Dunkirk.
Surely there is not a fxngle Word you
lay, in refped to Dunkirk, that does not
hold as ftrongiy in regard to Guadaloupe ,
htuated in the very Heart of our Leeward
I hands, and there infefting one of the mod:
advantageous Branches of the Britijh
Commerce. If I may be allowed the Ex-
preffion, Guadaloupe is tne Dunkirk of the
We fl Indies. It is not to be denied but that
the Englijh Coafter and the London Trader
has iufferedby the Dunkirk Privateers; but
their LolTes this War have not been near
fo considerable as that of the Weft Indies ,
and above all of the Norib American
Traders, whofe Intereft, I believe, you
will not difpute to be of fome Importance.
Aik, Sir, the North American Traders,
aik the People of the Leeward Iflands*
what a vaft Security they thought it to
theii Trade, that Guadaloupe Should be
in our Haims ? Our Illands were fo annoyed

from

[ 43 ]

from thence, that they fcarce confidered
it in any other Light than as a Neft of
Privateers : thofe who went thither from
our Settlements were furprifed to find a
People richer than in any of our own
Iflands; and Land fo much better than
their own, that many of our rich Planters
have already made j: conditional Pur-
chafes there.

Not to confine our Views folely to a
Commercial Point, give me leave to men¬
tion one great Advantage, that in a po¬
litical light may arife from our Pofleffion
of Guadaloupe. It is very well known
that the Hand of Government is heavy on
the Proteftants of France. Many of thefe
People are already eftablifhed in this
Ifland, and they have Connexions of every
Kind with thofe of their own Perfuafion
at Home. And may we not hope and ex¬
pert that this may be an Inducement to
many others, to make this their Retreat,
and that the Colony may be enriched and
{Lengthened at the expence of France.

In fhort, Sir, in whatever light you
view the Ifland of Guadaloupe , you will

I Vid, Page 3;, the Note.

find

' '

find it a mod valuable and a mod defire-
able Objed. Do you afk to deprive your
Enemy of an advantageous Pod, from
whence he might materially moled your
Trade in Time of War ? Do you wi£h to
extend your Trade in Time of Peace, and
to have a new Market for all your Ma¬
nufactures ? From being fcarce able to
fupply the Home Confumption with Su¬
gar, do you defire to be foremofi: at the
foreign Market? This Ifland, Sir, of
Guadaloupe, that you efteem fo little, will
anfwer all thefe Ends j Ends fo material,
that I truft. Sir, the Stone you have
rejeded, will be made the Corner Stone
in the Temple of Peace.

I mud therefore repeat it, Sir, that
I am not a little furprized you Ihould
pafs over in a manner fo carelefs, and
with fuch extreme Superficiality, a Point
fo very material and interefting as this, and
tell us that * “ thePofieffion of Guadaloupe,
“ an additional Sugar JJland , when we have
“ fo many of our own, ought not to be fo
“ ftrenuoufy injifled upon as to make it a
necefary Condition of the Peace.” Had

you taken the Pains to inform you riel f of
the Fadts neceffary for making a j udg-
ment on this Matter, or had you duly at¬
tended to them, you could not poffibly
have faid that it was not to be infilled
upon, and in the fame Breath aflert, that
without Canada we fhould have a trea¬
cherous and delufive Peace.

You fay a great deal, and with Reafon,
upon the Value of our * North American
Colonies, and the great Increafe our Trade
has had from that Quarter. But you pafs
by with very little notice, how much
both the Trade of England, and even the
Trade of thefe very North American
Colonies, owes to the Blands.

You look upon thefe Blands only as
an inferior dependent Part ot the Britijh
Plantations, which you fcarce think worth
while to mention ; but becaufe I think
you are under fome miftake in this Point,

* Vid Pag. 34 of the Letter. If notwithftanding our
having loft feveral Branches of Commerce we formerly

* 1 * 1 i' m. if- 1 -» /• ..I J* ^ • r r~% f L I 1

A I w T I* * J

enjoyed in Europe and to the Levant , we have ftill
'more Commerce than ever, a greater Demand for our
Manufactures, and a vaft Increafe of our Shipping*
what can this be owing to but to the Trade of our
own American Colonies l

1

H

■ , ' - 1 ■■ , rh 'r c

I 46 ]

in addition to thole Reafons which have

q™, fV*n. t0 Qlew the Preference of
Guadaloupe in particular to Canada , there
are fomc Fadts, which I beg leave to fub!
mit to your Obfervation, concerning Set¬
tlements on the Continent' of North Ame-

IOands Th ntab°n$ the W* lndian
lands. Though it may be a new Idea,

I Jail not hefitate to fay, that an IJland
Colony, ' is always more advantageous than
a Continental one, for the Mother Coun¬
try as being more attached by their In¬
ter ed, and more ealily fupported.

The Inhabitants of the Weft Indian
Elands never conlider themfelves as at

tW M I6"6;, thCy fend their Children to
, r°,ther C°,Untry har Education ; they
emfelves make many Trips to the Mo-

tlaer Country to recover their Health or
enjoy their Fortunes ; if they have Am¬
bition tis hither they come to gratify it.

I need not, I fuppofe, obferve to you, how
many Gentlemen of the Weft Indies have
Seats in the Britijh Houfe of Commons.

1 might I believe venture to fay, there
are very few who have inherited Planta¬
tions in any of our Ifknds, who have
not had an European Education, or at
lead have not /pent fome Time in this

1 Kingdom.

[ 47 ]

Kingdom. Many who have Plantations^
receive and fpend the whole Profits of
them here, without ever feeing the
Weji Indies , If the Commerce with the
Weft Indian Illands had even been in fome
refpefts againlt us, thisCircumftance alone
would turn the Ballance in our favour ;
but this in truth is very far from being
the Cafe, The Trade we carry on with
that Part of the World, is as happily cir-
cumftanced as Imagination could form it.
The Weft India Jflands lie in a Climate
different totally from ours. The natural
Produce therefore interferes in no refpeci
with that of England. Their Produce is
only fuch, as our Tafte and the Turn of
our Manners call for. Indeed a great
Article of that Produce enters fomuch in¬
to the ordinary tmod of all Ranks of our
People, that if we had it not from our
own Colonies, we fhould be under a
necefiity of purchafing it from Stran¬
gers, The Commerce between the Mo¬
ther Country and a Weft Indian If] and
is natural and eafy : it needs in no refpect
to be forced or managed ; they are mu¬
tually formed for each other : neither is
there any fort of fear that the Illands in
that part of the World fhould- ever make
this Commerce lefs eafy or Ids advan¬

tageous,.

[ 48 1

# I

tageous. The extreme Dearnefs of Provl-
fion will never l'uffer them, how much
foever they may be inclined, to fet up any
Manufacture which may interfere with
our own. So that thefe Colonies, by
their very Nature, Situation, and Pro¬
ducts, by what they have, and by what
they want, are kept neceflariiy con¬
nected with and dependent upon Eng¬
land, and mutt ever be fo, as long as
we are able to protect them.

Let us now examine, Sir, whether the
greateft part of the Plantations which we
polTefs or defire in North America , can
come in competition with the Iflands, ei¬
ther in the Advantages we derive from
them, or in the Certainty of holding thofe
Advantages. With regard to the Eftates
in North America fpent in England,
I may affirm that from Nova Scotia to
Maryland and Virginia there are abfo-
lutely nonej yet in this TraCt are, the
four Provinces of New England, the great
Countries of New York, Penjylvania, and
the two Jerfeys, Places highly flouriffiing
in Commerce, and abounding with Peo¬
ple : even to the Southward of this
Line there are very few Eftates fpent
in England.

In

I 49 J

t>

In North America the Climate is not
Unfavourable to an European Con dilution *
and it is -a Country in which Men fond
of Rural Diverfions may pafs their time
agreeably. The truth is, though their
Eftates fupply them abundantly to live at
home, they do not furnifh Money
enough to fend them abroad. I do not
remember that this vaft Continent fup-
plies our Houfe of Commons with a
tingle Member.

To view the Continent of America in
a Commercial Light, the Produce of all
the Northern Colonies is the fame as
that of England , Corn and Cattle : and
therefore, except for a- very few naval
Stores, there is but littleTrade from thence
direCtly to England. Their own Commo¬
dities bear a very low Price, Goods carried
from Europe bear a very high Price 5 and
thus they are of Neceffity driven to fet
up Manufactures firnilar to thofe of
England , in which they are favoured by
Cheapnefs of Provifions. In faCt, there
are Manufactures of many Kinds in thefe
Northern Colonies, that promife in a fhort
Time to fupply their Home Confump-
tion. From New England they begin
even to export fome things manufactured,
particularly Hats, in fome Quantity. In

D

K

fr

II i

■ <

i

111'

If;

If

thefe Provinces they have Colleges and
Academies for the Education of their
'V outh ; and as they increafe daily in
People and in Induftry, the Necefiity
of a Connection with England , with
which they have no natural Intercourfe
by a Reciprocation of Wants, will con¬
tinually diminilh. But as they recede
from the Sea, all thefe Caufes will operate
more fhongly ; they will have nothing to
expeCt from Commerce, they muft live
wholly on their own Labour, and in pro-
cefs of Time will know little,enquire little,
and care little about the Mother Country.

If, Sir, the People of our Colonies
find no Check from Canada, they will ex¬
tend themfelves, almoft, without bounds
into the Inland Parts. They are invited
toit by the Pleafantnefs, the Fertility, and
the Plenty of that Country; and they will
increafe infinitely from all thefe Caufes.
What the Confequence will be, to have a
numerous, hardy, independent People,
poffeiTed of a ftrong Country, communi¬
cating little, or not at all with England,
I leave to your own Reflections. I hope
we have hot gone to thefe immenfe Ex~
pences, without any Idea of fecuring the
Fruits of them to Pofterity. If we have,
I am lure we have abted with little Fru~

iWt

V.-v.

1' v‘

,VKN

y.'x

*

-I

[ 5r ]

gaiity or Forefight. This is indeed a Point
that muft be the conftant Objedt of the
Minifter’s Attention, but is not a fit Sub-
jedlfor a publick Difcuffion. I will there¬
fore expatiate no farther on this Topic ; I
fhall only obferve, that by eagerly grafp-
ing at extenfive Territory, we may run
the rifque, and that perhaps in no very
diftant Period, of lofingwhat we now pof-
fefs. The Pofieffion of Canada , far from
being necefiary to our Safety, may in its
Confequence be even dangerous. A
Neighbour that keeps us in fome Awe, is
not always the word; of Neighbours. So
that far from facrificing Guadaloupe to
Canada , perhaps if we might have
Canada without any Sacrifice at all, we
ought not to defire it.

■ We ought in all Reafon to be as atten¬
tive to our internal Government in Arne-
nca, as to that outward Security for.
which you are fo anxious, but for which
you have propofed a Plan defective in
Point of Expediency and Juftice, and
even defective upon thofe miftaken Prin¬
ciples of Security on which you build.
For if we can have no Security whilfl;
the French have any Place from whence
they may invade our Colonies, you ought
to have carried your Demands ftill fur-

D z

[ 52 1

, #

ther ; you ought to have demanded the
whole Country of Louifiana 5 becaufe
Irom thence, if we are only to reafon
from our Tears, France undoubtedly may
invade our Colonies, and what is of more
Confideration the weakeft of our Colonies,
thole to the Southward. If the Fear of
inch an Invafion be, as it is, your only
Real on for demanding Canada , you have
not demanded enough, and your Plan is
as defective upon your own Principles, as
it is exceffive on Principles of Moderation
and Equity.

Put thefe Points are not to be dif-
culfed between France and Kngland only.
The re are other Powers who will pro¬
bably think themfelves interefted in the
Decifion of this Affair. There is a Bal¬
ance of Power in America as well as in
Europe , which will not be forgotten ; and
this is a Point I fhould have expedted
would fomewhat have engaged your At¬
tention.

t

With regard to Senegal and Goree , I
concur with you in not making them the
principal Objedt of our Negotiations at
the Congrefs * for a Peaces but it is up-

'* R 33* Senega] and Goree, though of real Im¬
portance ia the Slave and Gum Trades^ our own

on Principles very different from yours.
You defpife the African Trade, and
confidently enough, becaufe you lay
little weight on that of the Weji Indies ,
which is fupported by it ; but the Re¬
duction of the Price of Slaves, the whole
Trade of Gum thrown into our Hands,
and the Increafe in that of Gold and
Ivory, would make even thole Places a
far better Purchafe than Canada , as might
poflibly be fhewn without much difficul¬
ty. Rut I do not in lift upon it, becaufe
I think we ouffnt to be as moderate in
the Terms of Peace, as is confident with
a reafonable Indemnification, and becaufe
too 1 know in the Nature of Things,
that it is impoffible to retain all. In one
word, I will not venture, Sir, to fay,
we have a treacherous and delufive Peace ,
unlefs that Peace is made in Conformity
to my Ideas j for there may be Reafons
that neither you, nor I, Sir, can poflibly be
acquainted with, which may make thefe
Points not proper to be infifted upon ; but
I will take upon me, Sir, to lay, that if by

Jfrlcan Settlements have hitherto fupplied us with
Slaves fufficient for our American Purpofes ; and the
Gum Trade is not perhaps of Confequence enough
to make us amends for the annual Mortality which
wealready lament of our brave Countrymen to guard
our African Conquefts.

[ 54 ]

tiiis War we gai” Guadaloupe, we make
as great an Acquifition as ever this Nation
nas made by any Treaty or any War,

and ii it is poffible to retain this, we need
not afk for more.

At a Congrefs, Sir, in the Face of that
Auguft AfTembly, formed by the Renre-
fentatives of the Chriftian World, we /hall
tlmie exhibit ourfelves in our real Cha¬
racter we foal! there fhew ail the Powers
of Europe what they are to expect from
us, and how far they ought to wifh the
Continuance and Increase of our Great—
nexs. 1 herefore any fhew of arrogant
Superiority, any unmeafurable Claim, any
avai icious Grafping, though they may
feem immediately to fall upon France,
are in effect Menaces to every other
Power. But if Moderation is necefiary
there, when*the War is ended, and when
we act as a Nation, how much more ne¬
cefiary is it to private Men, whilft the
War fliil continues with that Uncertainty,
which mud always attend the moft prof-
perous Fortune. You cannot forget in
this very Year, what an Afpedt our Af¬
fairs in Germany wore, before the glorious
Battle of Min den ; and you cannot be ig¬
norant how much this would have affected
tis in a Negotiation for Peace. Things are

)

[ 55 J

not yet decided there ; they look indeed
favourable, but not favourable enough, ■
either with regard to his Majefty’s Army,
and ftill lefs with regard to the King of
PruJJia , to entitle you to prefcribe Terms
in the Stile of a-RwwawDidtator, even if any
Fortune could entitle you to do fo. Let
us, Sir, ufe a little Moderation in our
happy Hour, that we may at all Events
prel'erve an Uniformity of Conduct, and
not feem to aft meanly, if any reverfe of
Fortune fhould oblige us to be mode¬
rate. France , Sir, though beaten in all
Quarters of the World, defeated both by
Sea and Land ; though the Credit of her
Arms and her Finances are impaired, (he
is not yet totally ruined : nor, as I con¬
ceive, brought fo low as (lie was in the
War of Queen Anne. Yet, Sir, you will
be pleaded to remember, that by the
haughty Demeanor, the unreafonable
Expectations, the arrogant, I may fay,
ridiculous Demands of the Allies, the
happy Hour for making Peace on
the moft advantageous Conditions was
buffered toefcape; until Faction hadTime
to raiie its Flead in England, the Pofture
of Affairs to change Abroad, and the
Fortune of the War to vary in fo many
Particulars, that the Refult of all our
Succefs and Arrogance was— the Treaty

V

• . '*■>: '• x*’{ t -.'■ . •

Wd

•':: ' rf-VW

of Utrecht. The M. de Torcys Memoirs
give a lively PiXure of this Conduct and
all its Confequences.

I have. Sir, attentively, and Idiope it
will be allowed fairly, examined your
principal Arguments. You will give me
leave now to obferve a little upon fome
Things of lefs Confequence, which lye
detached from one another through out
your Performance.

I refpcX the Zeal which you fliew for
the Intereft ot your Country : but I think
that Zeal has tranfported you much too
far in your Reflexions on the Conclude
and Capacities of our Nobility. We al¬
low the Affluence of their Fortunes has
> many into a life of Diffipation ;
we allow that Luxury is the natural con¬
fequence of Riches ; confult the Hiftory
of Mankind you will find, this has been the
complaint of all Ages and all Countries ;
the Complaint was perhaps never made
in any Age or Country with lefs reafon
than in ours. The very Nature of our

Conftitution obliges our Nobility to

be in fome fort Men of Bufmefs. Many
of them are Men of extenfive Know¬
ledge, and profound Learning; in fhori
to be abfolutely ignorant, or idle, is not.

1

.

the falhion of the times. Every Man
exerts himfelf in fome degree, and where
thatis the cafe, fome Talents muftappear.
We have in fadl found, that notwith-
llanding the faults, which, whether
juftly or unjultiy, have been imputed to
us, we have not wanted Heads or Hands to
direcfl and execute our Military Operations.
Why fhould we then apprehend that the
Genius of our Country will forlake us
at the moment that we are to reap the Be¬
nefit of all our SucelTes, at our entrance
into a Negotiation for Peace,

This War is principally, with regard
to us at lead, an American War. When
I confider this, I own my Eyes are
led, as I believe thofe of moft Perfons
are, to the few who from their Inclina¬
tions, their Studies, their Opportunities,
and their Talents, are made perfedtly
Mailers of the State and Intereils of our
Colonies. Nor can we, when we cart our
Eye on the noble Perfon to whom we
owe the judicious Settlement of that
frontier Colony, whole Capital gratefully
bears the Title of its Founder, by any
Means defpair of an able Plenipotentiary
at a Congrefs, where for the firll Time,
our own national Interell will be the
principal Objedf of Negotiation.

t

I admire, Sir, with you, the noble
Struggle which that great Prince our Ally
in this War, has made againft fuch a
Combination of great Powers as meant to
y him. I could wifh for his Vir-
tues, and profefs I almoft expeCt from his
Anilities, that he will ftill extricate him-
felf from all the Toils that furround him.

It muff, however, be ‘remembered, that
it is net to his Connection with us, that
he owes his Diftrefs. His Dominions
nave not, like the Electorate of Hi mover, in
refen tment of Great Britain , been ravaged
by * the Contributions of the rapacious Rich -
litUy or been marked out jor the Military
Defert of Belief e . He lias not, like the
unhappy Prince of Hejfe> been twice driven
out of his Country for adhering firmly to
Great Britain , and in a Quarrel in.tirely
Bntifh. We found him belet with Ene¬
mies, cur Interefts coincided, we made
an Alliance, I am fare he has already
found in Great Britain a mod; ufeful
Ally, and I believe he. always will find in
her an Ally faithful to her Engagements.
But, Sir, there is a bound to every thing,
■f -Let us, in your own Words, learn for the
future to prefer our own Inter eft to that of
others ; to proportion our Exp cnees on the

* P. 39* of the Letter. f Ibid, p, 42.

*

l 59 }

Continent to the immediate Expences of our
own Country , and never to ajjift a New Ally
without remembering how much we did for
our Old one , and what return we have had .
We fee plainly, Sir, by the Condudl of
Great Britain at this Hour, that the Mi-
niftry is not inclined to let this Prince fall
for want of a due Affiftance ; but fare
while we aflift him fo materially in Eu¬
rope y we are not bound to facrifice our
Interefts in every other Part of the World.
It may be a £ popular Do dir me , but I hope,
it is not a Dodtrine that will be received*

* Enthufiafm, Sir, is a noble Motive
to Aftion, but good Senfe and Know¬
ledge only , muft diredt the Bufinefs
of a Negotiation. The Proteftant Caufe
maintained itfelf before the King of
Prufjia was con fide red as its Protedror/

t K 4°9 4r* the Letter. I would inculcate a
XOoOtnne which I think will not be unpopular , and
which therefore, I hope, will not be oppofed by our
Minifters, that whatever Conquefi we have made, and
whatever Conquefi: we may ftill make upon the French ,
except North America , which muft he kept all our own ,
fnould be looked upon as given back to France for a
valuable Confideration, if it can he the Means of
extricating the King of Prujfia from any unforefeen
Putrefies.

* P. 41 • of the Letter. Perhaps my Notions on this
Subje& border on Enthufiafm : the Ruin of the King of
Prujfia will be foon followed by the Ruin of the Pro¬
liant Religion in the Empire .

9

and I truft it will ftill be able to fupport
itfelf independent of* him j it will inc eed
always find a furer Support in the jarring
Intereft of the feveral Powers of Europe ,
which will certainly never ceafe, than in
the Faith of any Prince, which will be
always fubjedt to change.

Many material Circumftances of that
famous f Oppofition in our Parliament
to which you allude, are indeed but little
known. It is a Period about which
no man is uninquifitive. YourDefcription
of the Medley which compofed that’ Op¬
pofition, is fpirited, lively, and I doubt
not, juft : If you were yourfelf engaged
in that Struggle, when you had driven the
common Enemy to the Wall, whether you
found it convenient at that Time to quit
your Friends, or whether you thought
yourfelf deferted by them, Time enough
is now elapfed to have forgotten political
Friendfhips, and perhaps too, to have
worn out Party Refentments ; and in an
Age fo fond of Anecdotes, and fo curious
in Charadters, I may venture to allure you
nothing will be more acceptable than a
true Hi (lory of that whole 'Tranjadiion.

J P. 35. of the Letter, vide Note. The true Hiftory
of this Tranfa£tion here alluded to, may poffibly fome
time or other appear; though, as yet, we are per-
fuaded that the World knows very little of it.

- - msmm

[ 61 ]

It was indeed no undelirable Time to
have lived in, when a Field was opened for
every Man to difplay his Abilities, and ex¬
ert his Talents j if we give the Reins to
our Ambition, we fhould, Sir, regret
that where fo many Jkillful Champions ufed
formerly to engage and Jlruggle for Viffory,
one Man jhould at this Day remain fmgle in
the FJeld of Battle. But alas. Sir, how¬
ever mortifying this may be to us as Men ;
furely as citizens we muft rejoice that the
great Man, to whofe aCtive Spirit we in
a great meafure owe all our Glory, our
Succefs, I had almoft faid our very Safety,
is able to employ hiswhole time againft the
Enemies of his Country, without giving
a Moment’s Care to provide for his own
Safety. If we confiderit, in this Light, Sir,
fure it muft be amoft pleafing Contempla¬
tion to think, that* “the Extinction of fac-
“ tious Oppofition, the Unanimity of
“ every Party, and the Acquiefcence of
“ every Connection, in whatever Scheme
“ is propofed by his Majefty’s Servants,”
fuffer X the Speaker without the leapt De¬
bate or Oppoftion to take the Chair, only
to vote Millions, and levy Fhoufands ;
we have the Comfort however to fee that
thefe Millions are voted, and thefe Thou-
fands levied, not for the fupport of a Cabal,

* P« 2, of the Letter. J Vid. the Letter. Pag. 2.

or the nurfing of a Fadion, but for aflert-

Jng the Honour and the Intereft of our
Country.

Have a little Patience, Sir, we fhall foon
hope have reduced our Enemies, to reafon
andthen we fhall perhapsagain have leifure
to quarrel among ourfelves; we may

Xj' * i j _ ne Champion in the

Field ; we may then lift under that ’Ban¬
ner, to which our Intereft or our Paffions
may dired us.

In the mean time, let us thank Pro¬
vidence for the prefent happy Situation of
our Affairs. EveryMan fhould, as far as he
can, endeavour to encourage that concilia¬
tory Difpofition, to cherifh that Concord
and Union, which is at prefent fo advan¬
tageous to our Country ; and every Head
of a Party muft for this have a fhare in our

Acknowledgments for his Acquiefcence.

%

But you have drawn the public Atten¬
tion upon the two great Perfons whom
)ou addrefs. The noble Lord has o-reat
Merit both with his Country and & his
Prince. His early Zeal cannot be for¬
gotten. His extenfive Influence, his per-
fonal Authority, exerted as they have
Deen, and as I believe they always will

1 «3 ]

be, for the Good of his Country, will
always challenge the good Opinion of
his Countrymen. Nor will our Country
forget to do juftice to the active Spirit
of that great Man, to whofe unwearied
Efforts Great Britain is fo much in¬
debted for her prefent Glory > to whom
you and I, Sir, owe it, that in a War with
fuch a Power as France we now debate
whether our Country ihould ufe Mode¬
ration. I mean not, Sir, to make any
Comparifon, for it is not now a Time to
draw the nice Line between the Merits
of great Men, or to afcertain exactly
where the Merit of the one ends, and
the other begins. Comparifons are always
invidious ; they might at this Time be
hurtful, and tend to weaken the Bonds
that unite fo many Interefts apparently
difcordant in the Service of their Country.

It was no Spirit of Contradiction, Sir,
that made me take the pains of anfwering
your Letter ; therefore as I canvafs with
Freedom thofe Points which appear to me
to be miftaken, fo with great Pleafure I
join Hands where I think what you fay
is juft and reafonable. I agree with you
intirely in your Judgment of a Place
Bill, which would, I believe, be more
effectual, if not made too violent in its

)

f

f 64 ]

T

firft Operation like an * Oliveriah fe!f-
dcnying Ordinance. Your Judgment on
Mediators is furely juft and fenfible ; and
we may believe the Miniftry think fo,
who have not employed any Mediation,
though they have oftered to treat with our
Enemies.

4 < I

" * . * .

I rauft now afk yours and the public
Indulgence for any Miftakes. I have not
willingly perverted or mifreprefented any
thing. I do not pretend to the Credit of
a Writer, but I have endeavoured to un-
derftand the Queftion I write upon, as I
think every Man is bound to do who
troubles the Public with his Opinions. If
I am miftaken in what I advance, it does
not much fignify who the Author of
wrong Notions may be. If my Opinions
are well grounded, and my Remarks juft,
my Country may receive fome Benefit
from them ; and if fire receives a Benefit,
it is of little Concern by what Hand it
is adminiftered.

lam, SI R,

Yours, &c. 5cc.

* Pag. 48. of the Letter.

F I N 1 S.

v'Htt

w!S

P O S T S C R I

l

| I

Am obliged to the Publick for the can-

_ did and favourable reception they

have given to the foregoing Remarks. X
was fenfible that I oppofed myfelf in

fome Points, to the prevailing PalTions and

prejudices of the People. I did not at¬
tempt in point of Eloquence and Spirit
to vie with the Performance I under¬
took to examine. If therefore I have re¬
moved any Impreflions railed by that
Letter, which every where tended to
confirm thofe Prejudices, and to inflame
thofe Paffions, I can only attribute it to
the irrefiftible Force of Truth, and to
Lie Equity and Moderation of the Sen¬
timents I endeavoured to infpire. In thefe
alone I can pretend to come into any
' Competition with the Author of the
Letter to the Two Great Men.

, Since the printing off this Edition I
•have been informed that a Gentleman,
to whofe Opinion I pay great Deference,
does not think I have allowed fufficient
Weight, to the Lumber Trade o f Canada-,
and again, that in confidering our Decay
m the foreign Trade of Sugars, fince the
i eace of Utrecht, I have, he thinks not
enough attended to the vaft Increafe of the
Home Confumption, which he luppofes

^ to

[ 66 ]

to be the true Caufe of the Decay, of the
foreign Trade,

I am much obliged to the Gentleman
for the Obfervations ; they a.e indeed
Ciicumftance: , upon which 1 ought to
have been more explicit. That the In-
creafe of the Home Confumption is one
Caufe why we have loft the Foreign
Market, I readily admit. I have not any
where faid, that our Sugar Produce lince
the Period I mentioned, is at all dimi-
niftied ; on the contrary, I have rcafon to
know it is conhderably increafed; but
then it has only increafed in proportion to
our own Wants, and not at all in propor¬
tion to the Foreign Demand. The Fo-
reign Trade we have clearly loft. Nay
to foeak plain, we do not entirely fupply
our own Markets ; a great Part, if not far
the greateft Part of the Sugar confumed
in Ireland , comes from Portugal. But
France, from the Period I mentioned, has
increafed her Produce not only in propor¬
tion to her Plome Confumption, which as
well as ours is much enlarged, but in
proportion alfo to the Foreign Demand,
which has increafed in the fame manner
all over Europe . From being unable to
furnifh her own, fhe has fupplied all the
Markets which were formerly in our hands.

I ob~

o » 'o' . .-7*

A

[ 67 1

I obferved this Fa<5t, I lamented it, and 1
propofed a Plan in Tome meafure to re¬
move it, a Plan which might make us
fhare at lead: forne Part of the Market with
France. The Addition of a new Sugar
Eland, I do not fay probably will, but
aftually mult let us into this Market in
proportion to its Produce. We can know
if we pleafe to the utmoft Exaftnefs,
what the Sugar Produce of Guadeloupe
was before the War, and then we may
know with equal Exadtnefs what we fhall
have to export if we keep this Ifland,
and what Advantages Great Britain muff
certainly reap by that Acquifition. All
this depends on Fadls j any thing elfe
is uncertain, and in Speculation at bed:.
We do not know, that by any Scheme
for the further Culture of our own Iflands,
we can produce more than Sugar enough
for our Home Confumption : Nay, we
know almoft beyond a doubt, that they ne¬
ver will produce much more, becaufe our
Caribbee Iflands are cbltivated to the ut-
moft Extent ; and as for Jamaica , that,
Ifland has not near fo much Land fit
for Sugar, and convenient for Exporta¬
tion, as is generally imagined ; and if
it had, yet it is the Intered: of all the
Planters there, to keep things on their

E 2 prefent

4

■prefer* t- Footing ; for they avoid harrais-
ing, and wearing out their Land, they
bring it gradually into Culture, they
keep up the Price, and they gain a
-very large Profit on their Stock. That
they reaion in this manner is evident,
becaufe the Produce of Jamaica has
been many years nearly at the fame
Point. I believe we fhall find it very
difficult to make any Change in this
Particular ; and I own I do not ex¬
pert great Matters from any Scheme
which depends for its Succefs, on mak¬
ing many People relinquifh what they
imagine to be their Interefh

As to Lumber, whoever confiders the
Extent of our Colonies in America, their
Situation, and the extreme Woodinefs of
the Soil in molt of them, will eafily fee
that they can more than fupply all the
Weft Indies with that Article, and will pro¬
bably be able fo to do for Centuries to
come. Tho’ it was the Intereft of
Ft ■ance by every means to encourage the
Trade of Lumber from Canada, yet Ca¬
nada, favoured as it was, never was able
to fupply the French Iflands, which are
almofb wholly furnhhed with Lumber
ijrom our Colonies : and if with all
the Encouragement of the Mother

Country,

[ 69 ]

Country, Canada was not able to fup-
ply the French Iflands, I fhould imagine
Hie could have lefs chance of fucceed-
ing in that Trade, if in our PolTef-
iion, as Ihe could not then hope for any
particular Indulgences. The Lumber is
a very grofs Article, and attended with
very fmall Profits ; and it is abfolutely
neceflary the Freight fhould be extremely
light, which from fuch a Difiance as the
habitable part of Canada is from the
Weft Indies, it could not poffibly be; and
this is perhaps the reafon why we in Eng¬
land have never been able to fupply our-
felves with Deals and Naval Stores in
any Quantity from our Colonies.

Upon all thefe Confiderations taken
together, my Opinion for keeping of
Guadaloupe in preference to Canada was
founded; for having fecured thofe Bounds
which were the primary Objedt of the
War, I imagined that there was a Point
in which, whilft we fecured an Indem¬
nification from our Conqueft, the French
and we might have Advantages in fome
meafure reciprocal, and that thus we
might make a Peace agreeable at once to
Equity and to our Intereft. For the
French abound, and we are deficient in the
td ejt Indies ; the cafe is reverfed in North

Ame-

7

o

America ; and the Propofal of retaining
Guadaloape and leaving to them a part of
Canada , is perhaps the only Point in
which, I fuppofed, and I hope proved, that
the French can give us what they want
lefs than we do, and receive in return what
is far lefs advantageous to us than it will
be to them. I muft own it appeared to
me to be the happieft Ground in theWorld
for a Peace, the way to which I thought,
and Hill think, ought to be as little per¬
plexed with Difficulties as poffible. I
thought this more expedient, equitable,
and practicable, than the Plan propofed
in the Letter.

1 have thus attempted toanfwer thefe two
Objections. For when Men of Knowledge
and Candour do me the honour to obferve
upon any part of my Argument, I {hall al¬
ways think myfelf bound to examine their
Objections with the utmoft Attention ; if
they appear to me well grounded, I
{hall think it no Shame to retraCt my
Opinions publickly; if they do not con¬
vince me, Pfhall think my time cannot
be better employed than in endeavouring
to remove them. But it would be a
very improvident wafte of my own and
fny Readers leifure, to take the trouble
of anfwering Objections of another Stile

’> -i. **

and Character; fuch are thofe inferted in
the Gentleman’s Magazine, which arife
from a total Ignorance of the Subjedt,
^nd from an entire Mifunderfcanding or
Perverfion of my Notions, from the Be¬
ginning to the End of the Paper.

When I ventured to trouble the Pub-
lick with my Obfervations, I was perluad-
ed that in deliberating a Plan for Pacifica¬
tion, nothing could be at once more ufe-
lefs and illiberal than thofe Arguments
for exorbitant Terms, which are drawn
from Confiderations of the Enemy’s Per¬
fidy. For they tend to increafe that na¬
tional Partiality, which is ever the great-
eft Gbftrudtion to a fair Agreement, and
ferve to no other Purpofe, than that bad
one, of leading our Attention from our
Interefts to our Refentments ; and how¬
ever they make a Performance popular
for a Day, they will inevitably difguft all
People of Judgement, who know that
fuch Topicks never can be admitted in
the Management of publick Bufinefs, and
that they are wirolly remote from the
otile which civilized Nations ufe towards
eacii other when they come to negotiate,
1 here are indeed many warm, and perhaps
well-meaning People, but certainly very
much deceived, who imagine, that a

Man’s

o%r?s

\

[ 72 1

Man’s Leal for his Country is to be efti- -
mated by the Paffion with which he
exprefles himfelf againft the Enemy.
They confider an inflamed Declamation
as the Language of Patriotifm ; and hav¬
ing heated their Imaginations with hor¬
rid Pictures of their Enemies, they come
at laft to think it no Injuftice in them-
felves to do thofe very things, for which,
they fo abhor and abominate others.
But for my part, as I never thought it
right or prudent arrogantly to demand
what we may be obliged fhamefully to
renounce, I have always thought that
Moderation, Moderation at lead in Lan¬
guage, was what became every Condition
of Fortune; and that without it, Prof-
perity in particular, is never refpe&able,
and not always fafe: and I rejoice from
my heart that we are now in fuch a State,
that I may with Propriety apply to my
Countrymen thefe beautiful Lines, which
if they were not written, were at leaf! re-
vifed and approved by one of the greateft
Captains of Antiquity, and one who con¬
tributed the molt to the Embellifhment as
well as the Grandeur of his Country.

Quam ejtis maxume
Potcntes , Fites, Fortunati , Nobiles,

Tam maxume vos asquo animo aequa ?iofcere
Qportit ; ft vos voids perhiberi probos.

F INIS.

mm*